360-degree video systems have become increasingly popular in recent years. A 360-degree video system includes a 360-degree video camera that captures a 360-degree image of an environment. The 360-degree video system may provide access to the 360-degree image through the Internet for display on remote viewers' personal computers, for example.
One example type of environment in which 360-degree video systems have been used is a video conferencing environment. For instance, a 360-degree video system may be incorporated into a video conferencing system, which enables participants of a video conference who are at different locations to communicate using two-way video and audio transmissions. The video conference may be hosted by participants in a conference room (a.k.a. in-room participants) in which a 360-degree video camera is located, and the video conferencing system may enable the in-room participants to communicate in real-time with other participants (e.g., remote participants) who are not in the conference room. The 360-degree video camera captures images of the in-room participants, which may be shown on displays of the other participants' computers to facilitate communication between the in-room participants and the other participants.
Conventional 360-degree video systems often restrict a user experience of remote users (e.g., the aforementioned other participants of a video conference) to merely viewing the 360-degree image or selecting between the 360-degree image and other images (e.g., an image that focuses on a particular in-room participant of a video conference).